1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an antenna device and a wireless communication device, and more particularly, to an antenna device and a wireless communication device capable of adaptively switching radiation patterns and adjusting directions of radiated power, so as to satisfy wireless communication requirements for different operating modes.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Electronic products with wireless communication functionalities, e.g. laptops, tablet PCs, etc., utilize antennas to emit and receive radio waves for transmitting or exchanging radio signals, so as to access wireless network. Therefore, in order to facilitate a user's access to a wireless communication network, different antennas have been developed in the prior art to increase as much bandwidth as possible within a permitted range while minimizing physical dimensions. However, conventional antenna designs are usually optimized only for a fixed operating state. When the operating state is not fixed, good antenna characteristics may not be obtained for each operating state.
For example, a laptop is substantially composed of a chassis and a lid. The chassis comprises a mainframe, and the lid comprises a screen. In general, an antenna of the laptop is designed based on an operating environment after a user unfolds the lid. When the user folds the lid and executes certain network functions (e.g. downloading files and data, or executing network program computing), or when a laptop is switched to a tablet PC operating mode by a special hinge in certain applications, the operating environment of the laptop switches to a lid-folded mode. In such a condition, since the housing of the laptop is made of metal or carbon fiber and is not designed for the lid-folded operating environment, the radiating efficiency may be affected due to shielding effect when network functions are executed with the lid folded. To improve such a problem, plastic or a material with non-shielding effect is adopted on the housing of the laptop corresponding to the position of the antenna. As a result, the appearance design is affected, and the production and manufacturing cost is further increased.
Therefore, it is a common goal in the industry to maintain radiation efficiency of each operating mode for a wireless communication application operating at multiple modes.